Returning Exiles: The Glass is Half Full

17th Dec 2012

 

With Christmas almost upon us the influx of returning emigrants is imminent and many of them, especially students, will be making their way back from tonight on. It’s one of the best things about Christmas – family and friends who have been forced to leave the country by actions of The Evil Dublin Government are one of the most important additions to the energy of the festive season…. just when you were recovering from your work party hangover or your post-exam knees up along come a load of exiles dancing on the spot with enthusiasm for pinting in town.

A new café recently opened in the old library on Pembroke Street off South Mall, appropriately called 'The Bookshelf'

It’s the job as they regale us with stories of lands out foreign, the quare places, the hot places and the very cold (we can tell them about the rainy places).

Many of them will have left with heavy heart but admittedly Finance Minister Michael Noonan was right when he said that it is a lifestyle choice for some. The left-wing opposition maniacs went into overdrive at the thought that any person may have voluntarily left Ireland for reasons other than facing long term unemployment and as usual reasoned debate was substituted for Liveline hysteria and journalists looking to pump already raging hot public frenzy with the bellows of outrage.

Fresh faces and fresh coffe at Ita-Lee - j'geddit?

Plenty of emigrants have gone overseas for adventure or just a change of scene. Cork can feel small at times and not everyone likes bumping into everyone they know when walking from the bus station over to Paul Street on a Saturday afternoon. People do be different. 

Even if they were totally and utterly satisfied with their life in Cork, the draw of bigger wages in places like Dubai, Australia and Canada in their particular professions is hard to turn down if the rumours of mega-salaries in the desserts and mines are to be believed.

Opened in September on MacCurtain Street and arguably has the best pizza in Cork

Apparently these days if you work for one year in Dubai with the usual tax free benefits you can come home and buy all of Ballyphehane. Who wouldn’t want to exile themselves for twelve months to become the ‘Sultan of Pearse Road’? You could set up roadblocks by The Lough and charge people for walking around it, ride up and down the middle of Pouladuff Road on a camel and interfere with refereeing decisions at rugby games in Musgrave Park for the laugh with a direct mic to the ear of the referee.

“C’mere I said the throw into the line-out was NOT straight, blow up it four eyes”.

Paper dolls on Drawbridge Stret: open since September. We saw two flahs going in there one day so it's probably good...if you're an old doll like.

There’s another reason people head off too though. A small minority of Corkonians leave their city and county because they felt the recession had too much of an effect on it. When they come back from glitzy cities in the English speaking New Worlds they harshly compare places that are almost brand new and thoroughly planned with somewhere like Cork, half of whose higgildy piggildy streets were waterways until relatively recently in its history.

Retrograde just up the street from Paper Dolls. For quirkier old dolls.

How can the tidy, neat, hyper-planned cities of Australia and America be compared to an city on the island of Ireland with their glass and steel buildings, wide straight roadways and perfectly functioning systems. It’s easy to convince a neutral that these places are superior if you compare photographs. If you’ve got OCD you’ll always opt for the newer cities.  

Uncle Petes on Pope's Quay was going so well that they expanded and took over the old Bully's on Paul Street: the fish and chips comes with peas loads of other daycint stuff AND it's only a tenner!

Many exiles would cite the spectacle of many closed businesses in Cork city as a big negative. The image of shuttered doorways and dark vacuous windows in the middle of the day doesn’t lend itself to the image of a vibrant city but to do so in Cork’s case is to consider Leeside’s glass half empty instead of half full. And even that isn’t accurate.

Arthur Mayne's "Pharamacy" opened in April. (Chicken toasted sandwich all the way for lunch and bring the old doll in for a glass a wine some weeknight while you sneak out the back into Crane Lane for a porter).

In September the Cork Business Association said that one business is going bust in Cork city every two months after O’Connor’s shoestore on Oliver Plunkett Street finally broke through its uppers and shut its doors. A sad sight but 2012 was actually a remarkably positive year for businesses opening their doors as awkward, and in many cases elderly, landlords finally realised they weren’t going to be able to tough it and go back to the ludicrous rents they charged during the Celtic Tiger.

Recently opened Scúp on Oliver Plunkett Street. Tough competition for the 99.

On Oliver Plunkett Street itself there are some recent success stories. Meade’s Wine Bar, a casualty of the economy’s demise is open again under new owners and for some reason it is busier than it ever was before. Its neighbour, coffee shop, Italee (we love the nod to Cork in the name) is ticking over nicely and around the corner in Pembroke Street, publican Benny McCabe has added ‘Arthur Maynes Pharmacy’ to his growing list of heritage bars.

'Olde' if you consider the middle of this summer to be ages ago. The trademark logo kinda spoils the buzz but a good place to grab Christmas presents..

If any returning glass-half-empty exile doesn’t perk up at the sight of all this then they might need a bucket of cop-on-to-yourself cold water thrown over them. Or you could get them to walk a little further up Oliver Plunkett Street to ‘Scúp, the cleverly named new ice cream parlour confidently opening its doors in late August, a get a cold but sweet dose of reality there too.  

Meade's wine bar re-opened under new ownership in August and is packed out on weekends - who said you can't have a meat and cheese board in a recession?

Previously we’ve banged on about North Main Street being one of the surprise streets of the local small business revival. The most recent addition is a restaurant called Flamenco next to the Vision Centre and The Vicarstown Inn has been subtly converted from sleepy elderly watering hole to one of the most interesting pubs in the city with a great beer garden (yes, they do have heaters!) and is now jammed out at weekends. Around the corner in Castle Street Brian Mills spotted a niche for hangover cure Noho and has worked hard to build up a clientele.  

If you haven't been to the new Vic yet you'll be amazed at how cool it is inside especially the beer garden out the back. Check out the video here

Up on MacCurtaina there is a lot of flux and with the success of their tiny premises on Douglas Street, the pizza restaurant Novecento has moved to a bigger street and opens early for great Italian coffee.

On Drawbridge Street two new beautifully designed clothes shops, Retrograde and Paper Dolls are doing a fine trade while the Bierhalle across the way on Pope’s Quay is tapping into Corkonians’ penchant for the occasional German beer and bratwurst. We could go on.

The Bierhaus on Pope's Quay have expanded into a more German food-and-beer buzz at the Bierhalle

Yes, some businesses are under severe pressure and many have wilted but let’s not over focus on the part of the Cork glass that is one tenth empty without talking about the other nine tenths that are trading successfully, looking well and bringing much needed employment.

While the big names at Opera Lane and elsewhere have their place, a city without a strong indigenous small business loses its soul so this Christmas be sure to show your returning exiled comrades the better side of town and think about spending some of your Santy budget there too. If only the big man in red could bring us independence, ha?

Merry Christmas, Cork!